Faculty

This page shows 20 of our teachers from 20 cities; across the whole staff there are teachers from 30 countries. Each stands at the longitude of their home city.

Hover over or tap a line to meet the teacher from that city.

School leadership

Dr. Nevin Arıkan

Founder and Head of School

Istanbul, Türkiye

Spent twenty years as a physics teacher and IB coordinator at international schools in Istanbul, Geneva and London. She founded Meridyen in 2009 on the site of an old tree nursery at the edge of the Sarıyer forest.

Education: BSc Physics, Boğaziçi University; EdD, University of Bristol
Languages: Turkish, English, French
At Meridyen since: 2009

High school

Selin Aksoy

Head of High School, IB Diploma Programme Coordinator

İzmir, Türkiye

Leads the two-year DP journey, from subject choices to matching Extended Essay supervisors. She meets every Grade 11 student one to one twice a term.

Education: BSc Chemistry Education, METU; MA International Education, University of Bath
Languages: Turkish, English, German
At Meridyen since: 2014

Fiona Reid

Chemistry (IGCSE and DP)

Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom

Devoted to lab notebooks: every experiment starts with a prediction. She has led DP chemistry internal assessments for nine years.

Education: BSc Chemistry, University of Edinburgh; PGDE
Languages: English, Turkish (intermediate)
At Meridyen since: 2015

Thomas Becker

Physics (IGCSE)

Hamburg, Germany

Teaches everything from pendulums to satellites by measuring first. Founder of the robotics club.

Education: Physics and Education, Universität Hamburg
Languages: German, English, Turkish (beginner)
At Meridyen since: 2013

Daniel Mensah

Mathematics (DP Analysis and Approaches)

Accra, Ghana

Asks students to choose their maths internal assessment topics from everyday questions: the bus route, the canteen queue, the current in the Bosphorus.

Education: BSc Mathematics, University of Ghana; MSc, University of Warwick
Languages: English, Twi, French
At Meridyen since: 2020

Kerem Taşkın

Turkish Language and Literature

Trabzon, Türkiye

Teaches the MEB literature courses and DP Turkish A. Every year he stages a poetry reading.

Education: Turkish Language and Literature Teaching, Hacettepe University
Languages: Turkish, English
At Meridyen since: 2016

Ana López

Biology (DP)

Mexico City, Mexico

Education: Biology, UNAM
Languages: Spanish, English
At Meridyen since: 2022

Languages

Anjali Rao

English Language and Literature (DP)

Bengaluru, India

Runs her seminars around an oval table and leaves the talking to the students. She leads the high school reading club and the writing workshop.

Education: MA English Literature, Christ University
Languages: English, Kannada, Hindi
At Meridyen since: 2018

Lucía Ferrer

Spanish and Theory of Knowledge (TOK)

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Ends every TOK lesson by asking "How do we know this?" again. She organises the school's world languages week.

Education: Philosophy, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Languages: Spanish, English, Italian
At Meridyen since: 2017

Claire Dubois

French

Lyon, France

Education: French as a Foreign Language, Université Lumière Lyon 2
Languages: French, English, Turkish
At Meridyen since: 2017

Primary

Emma Clarke

Grade 3 homeroom teacher (PYP)

Toronto, Canada

In her class every inquiry starts with a jar of questions. She plans her lessons with her Turkish co-teacher.

Education: B.Ed., University of Toronto
Languages: English, French
At Meridyen since: 2019

Hannah Schulz

PYP Coordinator

Vienna, Austria

Education: Primary Education, Universität Wien
Languages: German, English
At Meridyen since: 2016

Liam Walker

Grade 4 homeroom teacher (PYP)

Melbourne, Australia

Education: Education, Monash University
Languages: English
At Meridyen since: 2021

Counselling and university guidance

Elif Yurdakul

University and careers counsellor

Ankara, Türkiye

Opens an application file with every student from Grade 9 and tracks YKS, UCAS and Common App deadlines on one sheet.

Education: BA Psychology, Bilkent University; MA, Teachers College, Columbia University
Languages: Turkish, English
At Meridyen since: 2018

Middle school

Kenji Mori

Design and technology

Osaka, Japan

Education: Industrial Design, Kyoto Institute of Technology
Languages: Japanese, English
At Meridyen since: 2019

Ayşe Demirtaş

Science (middle school)

Konya, Türkiye

Education: Science Teaching, Selçuk University
Languages: Turkish, English
At Meridyen since: 2012

Murat Kaya

Mathematics (middle school, Cambridge Lower Secondary)

Bursa, Türkiye

Education: Mathematics Teaching, Uludağ University
Languages: Turkish, English
At Meridyen since: 2015

Arts, music and sport

Marco Bianchi

Music, school orchestra

Bologna, Italy

Education: Cello, Conservatorio G. B. Martini
Languages: Italian, English
At Meridyen since: 2016

Sofia Mendes

Visual arts (IGCSE and DP)

Lisbon, Portugal

Education: Fine Arts, Universidade de Lisboa
Languages: Portuguese, English, Spanish
At Meridyen since: 2020

James O'Connor

Physical education, volleyball teams

Cork, Ireland

Education: Sport Sciences, University of Limerick
Languages: English, Irish
At Meridyen since: 2018

Teacher portraits are published with the teachers' consent. The people and photos on this demo site are fictional.